I added oak to a Belgian Brut a few weeks ago. When I added the oak, fermentation was definitely over, and it was still and clear. I go to rack it off today, and it had a splotchy, sticky, slimy white film on the top. It sure looks like a pellicle, but maybe it's not? I don't know what else it would be.

I tasted the white film, and it didn't taste like much, just kind of chalky and kind of tart. Do I have a Brett infection? It doesn't look like my Berliner Weisses do, so I don't think it's Lacto.

Would adding more oak (and probably whatever bug it is) make it finish faster?

Gravity is 1.010 right now. If it's Brett, how much lower should the gravity drop? I'm planning on bottling in champagne bottles, so I'm not super worried about bottle bombs, but I was really hoping to bottle it before May.

After futzing with Sean Terrill's MrMalty instructions for stepped starters for a few batches, getting annoyed and calculating them out by hand, someone pointed me to a calculator that figures the steps out for me!

This is probably old news for you guys, but in case it isn't, check it out.

I'm making a Belgian Brut-style beer right now, and want to dry hop with Nelson Sauvin. It's oaking right now. Should I wait until it gets closer to bottling time to dry hop it, or should I dry hop it now? How much should I use? I haven't dry-hopped any Belgian beers before, and don't want to overdo it. I'm planning on bottling it around the end of April.

EDIT: I'm thinking 2oz, one week from bottling. Does that sound reasonable?

I'm doing six 3L fermentation trials for mead right now, comparing different strains, trying my hand at Curt Stock's Even-speed-mead method, and also the effect of very hard water on mead. I'll do a more detailed write-up later, but the initial results were shocking.

I degassed the samples by shaking them repeatedly in a mason jar, and also by letting them sit out for a few hours. I calibrated my pH meter was calibrated twice, to 7 and 4, because I didn't believe my results.

I really didn't expect the pH to fall that much that quickly. I'm not surprised at all that most mead fermentations take months to finish, since the must becomes so hostile to yeast so quickly.

Stopped in to Lowes the other day while waiting for my Bobcat tire to get fixed. Noticed rows and rows of white, food-grade 5 gallon buckets for sale. They also had 2 gallon buckets that looked pretty good too. The 5gal were $3.78 IIRC, and the lids were another $1.25 or so.

I love my LHBS dearly and try to support them as much as I can, but their buckets are like $15 each, and they're an hour-and-a-half drive away.

I've been reading statutes until my head hurts (doesn't take long). Anyway, here are some of the things I've come up against. I'll update this as I make any progress.

In my state (Missouri), there is no mention of "honey" in any statutes or definitions for any type of alcohol. I talked to my local state Alcohol agent, who informed me he "thinks" using honey would require a generic "Alcohol Manufacturer's" license.

I also asked him about specific requirements for the facility (drains, sinks, etc) and he said the state would license whatever the TTB approves. When I asked who is responsible for verifying compliance, he said both the TTB and the state Alcohol and Tobacco Control agency are responsible. The TTB guidelines just say the facility must be "appropriate" for whatever type of brewery/winery/distiller you're running, but don't have any specific guidelines.

The TTB says that "Honey wine" falls under the category of "wine from other agricultural products." So I'm not sure how it'll work if I get TTB approval for a winery, but then have to get a non-winery state license. There are a number of benefits to being licensed as a winery in Missouri, including direct-to-consumer sales and lower licensing fees.

I've contacted the TTB directly about who decides if a facility is "appropriate" and what criteria they use. After that, I guess I'll contact the head office for the state Alcohol control agency re: honey in wine.

The applicable statute I found for Missouri wine: "Domestic wine is wine containing not in excess of fourteen percent (14%) of alcohol by weight and manufactured exclusively from grapes, berries and other fruits and vegetables grown in Missouri."

Apiaries in this state are regulated by the department of agriculture, so I don't understand where honey fits in, if not with fruits and vegetables. I know there are a wineries here that make mead, and I have a hard time believing the alcohol agent who inspects those wineries doesn't know if honey-wine requires a different license than a winery.

Working on a tripel/Brut type Belgian-y beer with pils malt and sugar, fermented with T-58. Went through primary at 60*F with only malt. After primary it hardly had any clove flavor. I read about a special mash schedule some Weizen brewers use to get a high percentage of glucose to promote clove phenol development.

During secondary fermentation, I was going to use table sugar, but instead I added plain dextrose. I kept the freezer at 60*. Now that it's fermented out, it has a really strong clove aroma. Almost too much clove. Just an FYI for people looking to get more clove character out of their phenolic yeasts.

After reading Dr. England's mead presentation, where he talks about using potassium hydroxide to raise the pH during fermentation, it made me wonder why he didn't use calcium hydroxide. It's a lot easier to get a hold of than KOH. Does anyone know why he recommends KOH over CaOH?

They're located maybe 10 miles down the road from me. They don't allow local pickup, otherwise I'd probably own one of these already. Not sure how much freight would be, but the barrels are $133 for plain charred, and $260 for heavy toast + char. They're geared toward distillers, but they'd probably make good beer barrels too.